PayTR — Payment Platform · Zeynep Yıldız

02PROBLEM

A rich product family, but unanswered questions.

I had to solve these within the following constraints

Brand identity PCI-DSS · SSL Multi-product Mobile-first

The product's strength was lost in interface complexity — reaching information and converting to an application were both slow.

Business Goal

The rich product family wasn't converting to applications; visitors left before finding the right solution.

User Problem

A business couldn't quickly and confidently answer 'which fits me, how fast, is it secure, are there hidden fees?'

Design Challenge

Simplifying many complex payment products without losing the trust, security and transparency message.

03RESEARCH

I listened before I designed.

The timeline didn't allow primary user interviews. So instead of inviting users into a room, I went where they were already talking: forums, review sites, social media and closed groups. With netnography, benchmarking and stakeholder interviews I didn't assume the problem — I proved it.

Kick-off Workshop

With the PayTR team I mapped strategy, goals, limits and function expectations into a strategy map.

Corporate trust · Technical uncertainty · Leads · Conversion

Netnographic Analysis

I scanned users' real conversations in their own habitat: social media, blogs, review sites, forums and closed groups.

11 social platforms · 43 data points flagged critical

Competitive Benchmark

I studied payment platforms inside and outside the sector to see which patterns had become expectations.

6 platforms · 183 findings · 70 questions answered

Stakeholder Interviews

With product, marketing and sales I clarified business goals and technical/legal limits early.

Banking regulation · CRM integration · Segmentation

Synthesis & Strategy

I merged all findings into one theme map and converted it into the function list and design strategy.

Findings → function list → design strategy

The research, in numbers

183

Findings

Total findings from benchmarking and netnography — answering 70 research questions.

11

Social Platforms

Real user conversations scanned across forums, review sites, blogs and closed groups.

43

Critical Data

Flagged from all the data as directly shaping the design.

6

Benchmarked Platforms

Payment experiences compared inside and outside the sector.

Users' own words — where my decisions came from

"

The website looks a bit intimidating. Very technical — only someone who can spend a long time at a computer would understand it.

Netnography · forum

"

Their site looks like it was literally built to avoid telling you the fees.

Netnography · review site

"

Give us a commission calculator so I don't have to work it out every single time.

Netnography · social media

Five themes from netnography — every design decision answers one of them

Scattered info & fee transparency Security concerns Inadequate support Multi-step, opaque application Products invisible & technical language

My role

I designed and ran the research: the netnographic scan, the benchmark and the stakeholder interviews; then distilled 183 findings into a theme map and converted it into the function list and design strategy.

04BUSINESS GOALS

The goals the design served.

Every design decision tied back to four goals: more qualified applications, clearer product understanding, stronger perceived trust, and lower support load through self-service information.

01
Applications & conversion
Move a business from the right solution to application with the least friction.
02
Product clarity
Make complex payment products comparable and easy to grasp.
03
Perceived trust
Make security, transparency and speed felt at every touchpoint.
04
Support load
Reduce repetitive questions with clear self-service content.

05USER TYPES

There is no single business — there are four different scales.

In the kick-off, PayTR's audience was split into four revenue-based segments. Netnography then showed those segments expect entirely different things: small businesses want speed and cost, large ones want integration depth and compliance.

SMB / Small Business

Limited technical knowledge; wants fast setup and transparent cost. This is the group that most often called the site 'too technical, intimidating'.

Medium & Large Scale

Looks for integration depth, regulatory compliance and API documentation. A long decision cycle that demands technical clarity.

Individual ↔ Corporate Split

Not everyone arriving is a business. Splitting the visitor onto the right path at step one was the clearest function recommendation from the research.

06USER FLOW & INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE

From discovery to activation, one architecture.

I shaped the business's path to reduce hesitation at every step, then grouped scattered products into three clusters that serve that journey. Flow and architecture are two faces of the same system.

01

Discover

Locates the need from hero and mega menu.

02

Compare

Weighs solutions in equal-weight cards.

03

Trust

Overcomes hesitation via security and no hidden fees.

04

Apply

Completes the application in the fewest steps.

05

Activate

Virtual POS live in 2 hours, payments begin.

the architecture serving this journey

PayTR Payment Platform

Card-based Solutions

Virtual POS
Pay-by-Link
Installments

Alternative Payment Channels

Local & Foreign Cards
Multi-currency
Micro-payments

Panel & Reporting

Transactions & Payments
Reports & Charts
Application & Support

Mega menu — the three clusters, as navigation

Solution comparison — clusters turned into card blocks

Merchant panel — the reporting and management cluster

My role

I designed the sitemap and mega-menu structure: I reduced scattered products into three clusters that match the user's mental model.

07DESIGN DECISIONS

Why I made these decisions.

This is the heart of the work: each decision answers a problem, each answer has an impact. Not aesthetics — reasoning.

01Bringing security and '2-hour activation' into the hero

Problem

The moment a business landed, it asked 'is it secure and how fast can I set up?' — those answers were buried below the fold.

Alternatives

(a) A classic product-led hero, (b) a purely visual/people-led hero, (c) a hero leading with the trust + speed message.

Why this

I chose (c): in fintech, first-second hesitation kills conversion. Establishing trust and urgency at once keeps the user in the flow.

Result

The most critical objection (trust) and the strongest selling point (speed) are both met on the first screen.

PayTR — Karşılaştırılabilir çözüm kartları

02Splitting products into comparable card blocks

Problem

Virtual POS, link, installments, alternative channels... dissolved into long text blocks; the user couldn't compare.

Alternatives

(a) One long explainer page, (b) a tabbed view, (c) side-by-side, equal-weight comparison cards.

Why this

(c): Cards increase scan speed and visually ease the 'which one fits my business' decision.

Result

The complex product family can be compared in seconds and routed to the right application.

03Repeating transparency ('no hidden fees') across the flow

Problem

Pricing/commission uncertainty was the biggest objection that delayed applications.

Alternatives

(a) Put pricing on a single page, (b) hide it and push to 'get a quote', (c) repeat transparency with microcopy at every critical step.

Why this

(c): The objection arises throughout the decision, not at one point. Repeating transparency builds trust cumulatively.

Result

The user advances to application without carrying a 'hidden cost' fear.

My role

I made all three of these calls: I synthesized research findings, weighed the alternatives, justified my choice and implemented it in the UI.

08WIREFRAMES

From skeleton to final design.

I validated hierarchy and flow early with low-fidelity wireframes; the structure settled before colour and brand arrived.

Wireframe — Homepage

Intent

Validating hierarchy, flow and content priority before colour and brand.

Final Design

What changed

Same skeleton; brought to life with brand language, trust microcopy and comparable cards.

My role

I drew the wireframes separately for desktop and mobile; I validated the structure before the brand arrived, so the visual layer amplified rather than rescued it.

09DESIGN SYSTEM

A scalable, trustworthy language.

With Poppins typography, PayTR's navy–blue axis and vivid accent colours, I built a component library that behaves consistently across all pages.

Aa

PoppinsHeading and body — modern, clear, legible

#0F2666

#07B7F6

#1B81C4

#EA641D

#FFC808

COMPONENTS, GRID & STATES

Buttons

Apply Now Merchant Panel Learn More Disabled

Cards

Virtual POS

Active in 2 hours, all banks, one integration.

No hidden fees

Pay-by-Link

Create a payment link without any code.

No setup

Forms & States

Business name you@company.com Invalid tax ID

Default Focus Success Error

Grid & Spacing

12-column grid · 4px-based spacing scale (4/8/12/16/24/32).

My role

I built this design system from scratch: I defined the tokens, grid, spacing scale and the responsive rules for every component (buttons, cards, forms, states).

10RESPONSIVE STRATEGY

The same trust on every device.

I designed mobile-first: the rich comparison blocks on desktop stack legibly on mobile, touch targets grow, and the priority message (security + speed + apply) is the first thing seen at every screen size.

PayTR — Masaüstü, tablet ve mobil kırılımlar

The same screen — across desktop, tablet and mobile breakpoints

My role

I defined the breakpoint rules: comparison cards sit side-by-side on desktop, drop to 2-up on tablet and a single column on mobile; the priority message and apply CTA stay the first thing seen at every size.

11FINAL UI

Screens from the live product.

12REFLECTION & LESSONS LEARNED

"

In fintech, trust isn't a layer you add later — it's the product's first sentence.

The decision I'm proudest of was moving security out of the fine print and into the hero — not a hunch, but the answer to a complaint I heard again and again in the netnography. If I started over, I'd negotiate the timeline earlier to make room for primary interviews, and validate what netnography surfaced with real users before launch.

01

Clarity and trust are designed together

Simplification must not weaken the trust message; the two aren't competitors.

02

Transparency is built across the flow

Since objections arise throughout the decision, trust must be accumulated by repetition.

03

Brand identity is a compass

Treating the new brand identity as a compass rather than a constraint sped up building a consistent system.

From complexity to a clarity that drives decisions.

A rich product family, but unanswered questions.

Business Goal

User Problem

Design Challenge

I listened before I designed.

The goals the design served.

Applications & conversion

Product clarity

Perceived trust

Support load

There is no single business — there are four different scales.

SMB / Small Business

Medium & Large Scale

Individual ↔ Corporate Split

From discovery to activation, one architecture.

Why I made these decisions.

From skeleton to final design.

Wireframe — Homepage

Final Design

A scalable, trustworthy language.

The same trust on every device.

Screens from the live product.

Clarity and trust are designed together

Transparency is built across the flow

Brand identity is a compass